As the church is the body of Christ, the purpose of the earthly church is to be the glorious body of Christ and win the lost souls for the Lord. The significance of the church’s existence will not change, but the pastoral and governance model of the church is not static and will change with the changes of the times and the environment.
The global pandemic in 2020 had a profound impact on the world and the church, prompting the church to innovate and adjust its pastoral mode.
A few days ago, I interviewed Pastor M who is from East China. He is a witness to the changes in pastoral mode in China’s grass-roots churches over the past 30 years. In the past decades, grass-roots Chinese churches have experienced various pastoral modes, from the parish system, dispatching system for rural churches to the church system emphasized by urban churches, and then to the post-pandemic era today, which combines online and in-person modes for group, family and church gatherings. At the same time, Pastor M combines the advantages of the past dispatching system and church system in the current ministry, avoiding their respective disadvantages.
It should be noted that at present, this emerging model due to environmental changes is not called and defined by special terms such as the parish system and the church system, but its connotation and formation are more presented as a style of the “integration system”.
First, the combination of the dispatching system and the church system can give new vitality.
Pastor M recalled that nearly 30 years ago the parish system was mainly for many rural churches with one pastor assigned to different parishes or churches to preach in rotation, which was very important at that time. However, it is reviewed as a kind of “cursory” ministry and difficult to play the role of in-depth ministry. Pastors and believers could not establish a deeper relationship between leaders and believers.
So, now how does Pastor M use the dispatching system? First of all, he hopes that the fellow pastors can be trained to preach everywhere, but at the same time, this pastor also has a fixed church or group church to manage and deeply take care of the believers. Therefore, the present dispatching system is that this pastor will go out once a week in addition to his own church or group church so that they will get a balanced growth in preaching and ministry.
Pastor M said, “If the dispatching system is not applied, the pastors in some churches will have a weaker level of leading the believers because of their education level and age. However, through the dispatching system, the pastors can cross and take turns preaching sermons, so that the believers in one church can hear the sermons of other excellent pastors at least twice a week, and there will be a balance in the provision of truth.”
At the same time, Pastor M stressed, “A pastor must take good care of his own work in the church. Dispatching orders is only a part of training pastors. In the previous dispatching system in which pastors did not have their own place of responsibility, they only preached in a fluid way, which made it impossible to cultivate them in depth. The pastor was just like a preaching machine, and the pastor had nothing to do with the believers in this church so the pastor could disappear straight after finishing each sermon. This was the detour we had before. Although the dispatching system is still used now, we ask pastors not only to preach but also to take good care of the believers in the church they are responsible for. This can also establish a real pastoral relationship.”
Second, the church system needs to avoid disadvantages: to have a deeper understanding of the essence of the church.
The church system is a popular model in urban churches after 2000 - the church is fixed in a church spot, and all pastoral activities are carried out in this space.
Pastor M believes that the first church system was mainly just one person preaching the holy word and doing the ministry. For example, some pastors needed to teach many sermons or do much counseling during the week. From a certain point of view, it was a drag and internal friction for this pastor; secondly, the believers in the church were mainly influenced by one pastor, and it was easy for believers to deviate from their cognition of truth and the whole gospel view. After a long time, the believers in this church might find that they only recognized this one pastor. However, in the current environment where the resources of online channels are sharply reduced, if a congregation are confined to the level of the pastor’s ministry, it will be difficult for them to integrate into the comprehensive gospel. After a long time, there will be disharmony in truth and relationships in the whole church.
Therefore, Pastor M thinks it is necessary to combine the dispatching system with the church system. Moreover, a more systematic way of preaching and ministering is needed in ministry. For example, Pastor M recommended ways to formulate the annual sermon outline, including truthful, doctrinal, and life-oriented sermon contents and the development direction of the church. The sermon preached each month can be adjusted and balanced by these. For instance, if the sermon is weekly, the first week will lead the Holy Communion, the second week will be about the cross, the third will focus on the Gospel of Mark, and the fourth week will be the practice of Christian faith life.
Pastor M believes that faith should not be bound by the church. Not meaning against the church, he believes that many believers have a faulty mindset - they only look for which place to get together and think that this is the only place as the church. But in fact, the Bible shows us that people who believe in Jesus Christ and are saved together are the church. The Temple in Jerusalem is sacred, but it is not only called a gathering place in Jerusalem, but also a church. In ecclesiology, it is necessary to shift the focus from place to people. For this reason, Pastor M pays special attention to sharing the correct ecclesiology with his members.
Third, how can the advantages and disadvantages of group ministry be balanced?
“The group gathering mode can transform the large-scale church gathering mode. If we strengthen the nurture of believers’ spiritual lives, we can make up for the shortcomings of church services. In this way, there are not only healthy pastors but also healthy believers, which makes it even more balanced.” He said, “At present, we use the idea of group gatherings in pastoral care, but the problem of group gathering is that although it cultivates many people, it also creates a lot of chaos in the church.”
For instance, he said that one of the typical examples was that from the previous time when several pastors managed their own churches, to the time when the group leader got the power to manage his own group members, there was a problem: after the power was dispersed, some individual group leaders had pride, and there was also the split of the group or the split between the pastors in the church. The worst outcome that he had experienced was the group leader taking away the group members and leaving the church.
Pastor M affirmed that group gatherings were very suitable for today’s environment, but it was also necessary to realize that sometimes the church group meetings would lead the church to the utilitarian side and would stimulate pastors to continuously develop more groups to achieve the goal of doubling the number of people. This would lead the church to be ministry-oriented in raising and cultivating disciples - it attaches great importance to results, numbers, and scale. Yet, it was not life-oriented. “When I realized this problem, we made an adjustment to strengthen the internalization of believers’ lives,” he added.
Fourth, believers and pastors need to change and update their mentality in the post-pandemic era.
Pastor M specifically pointed out, “From 2020 to 2022, in the two or three years after the first coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, we had to change a lot of patterns. In the beginning, I didn’t want to accept online services either, and I always felt that there was less atmosphere and feelings that I would have on site. When I first talked before a screen, I was not used to it. As I preached before the computer, I felt no emotional responses. At first, I felt a lot at loss. I felt that online preaching seemed to lack the touch by the Holy Spirit, and it was better to speak in person. Yet, I couldn’t help but accept this fact.”
“Throughout our experiences over the past three years, I think it is God who has given us a reminder. I often tell my brothers and sisters that we should adapt to and accept the current online and in-person hybrid meeting modes. It is certainly better for us to get together when we are safe, but when we are in trouble, we can’t complain to or test God. At least when we face this environment, we are calm. Even if five people get together, our faith will not go weak. I have always encouraged my brothers and sisters not to lose heart.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
教会是基督的身体。地上的教会存在的意义是为了作基督荣耀的身体，为主赢得失丧的灵魂。教会存在的意义是不会改变的，但教会的牧养与治理模式却不是一成不变的，会随着时代和环境的变化而变化。
2020年的全球疫情，对世界影响深远，对教会也是如此，促使教会在牧养模式上不得不进行革新和调整。
日前，笔者采访到了华东的一位M牧者，他是在过去是30年中国基层教会牧养模式的变迁历程中的亲历者：在过去30年里，中国基层教会在牧养模式的层面上，经历了从农村教会使用的片养制和派单制、到城市教会强调堂会制，再到后疫情时代的今天将线上和线下、小组/家庭和堂会等多种方式融合起来的一种新模式。与此同时，M牧师在实际的牧养中，也把过去的派单制、堂会制等优点融合起来，回避各自的劣势。
需要注意的是，目前这种因环境变化而新兴的模式并非如片养制、堂会制已经有专有的词汇来进行称呼和定义，但其内涵和形成更多呈现出来的是一种“融合制”的风格。
一，派单制和堂会制结合，可以焕发新活力
M牧师回顾说，近30年前，不少农村教会主要使用的片养制是一种派单制——把传道人派到不同的片区或者教会轮流讲道，在当时的时代下很重要。但再回头看可以发现，这是一种比较“走马观花”式的牧养，很难起到深入牧养的作用，牧者与信徒无法建立更深的牧养和被牧养的关系。
因此，现在M牧师如何使用派单式的牧养呢？首先，是希望能够让讲道的同工得到训练，在各处讲道，但是同时这个讲道人也有一个固定的堂点或小组教会去治理和深度牧养信众。因此，现在的派单制是这个牧者除了自己负责的堂点或者小组教会之外，还会一个星期出去一次，这样他们会在讲道与牧养方面得到均衡的成长。
M牧师说：“如果不用派单制的话，有些堂的讲道人因受教程度和年纪大等原因，喂养信众的水平会弱一些，而通过派单制的方式，可以让讲道人交叉和轮流讲道，这样至少让一个堂的信众一星期听到2次其他优秀讲道人的讲道，在真理的供养上会来到一个平衡。”
同时，M牧师强调说：“一个讲道人一定要照顾好自己的本堂点的工作，派单只是训练讲道人的一部分。之前的派单制因为讲道人没有自己负责的堂点，只是流动地讲道 ，这样就无法深入栽培，讲道人只是好像一个讲道机器，讲道人与这个堂的信徒也没有关系，导致讲道人在完成任务之后就可以消失了。这是我们之前走过的弯路。虽然现在是也是用的派单制，但是我们要求讲道人除了讲道，还要好好地牧养所负责的堂点的信众。这样也可以建立起来真正的牧养关系。”
二，堂会制需要回避的劣势：要更深把握教会的本质
堂会制是2000年后在城市教会流行起来的一种模式——教会固定在一个堂点，牧养都以此为空间展开。
M牧师认为，第一堂会制主要只是一个人固定地宣讲圣道与牧养，比如有的讲道人需要一周讲很多道或者做很多辅导之类的，从某个角度来看，是对这个讲道人的拖累和内耗；第二是教会信众主要只是受一个讲道人的影响，容易出现信众对真理和整体的福音观的认知出现偏离。时间久了，这个堂的信众可能会发现只认这一个牧者的现象，而在当下网络听道资源锐减的环境下，如果一个堂的信众只是在局限在这一个牧者的牧养水平里，这个堂的信众就很难融入全备的福音信息里，时间久了，会出现全教会的在真理和关系上的不和谐。
因此，M牧师认为派单制和堂会制的结合是十分必要。并且，在牧养上需要更为体系的一种讲道和牧养。比如M牧师推荐可以制定年度讲道纲要的方法，其中包括：真理性、教义性、生活性的的证道内容与教会发展方向等几方面。每个月四五周的讲道可以分别以这些来进行调整和平衡，比如以周为单位的话，第一周带领圣餐、第二周会讲十字架、第三周会讲马可福音、第四周会讲基督徒信仰生活的实践。
M牧师认为，信仰不应该被堂会束缚起来，但他并不是反对堂会，他认为很多信徒出现一个错误的认知——只认准那一个地方聚会，认为只有这个地方才是教会。但是其实圣经让我们看到：信耶稣基督而得救的人聚在一起就是教会，耶路撒冷圣殿是神圣的，但不是只有在耶路撒冷叫聚会，叫教会，在教会论上，需要把焦点从地方转到人的身上，为此，M牧师特别留意分享正确的教会论给信众。
三，小组牧养的优势与弊端如何平衡？
“小组聚会模式可以把大型的教会聚会模式转化过来，如果再加强对信众生命的栽培，就可以补足堂点聚会的短板，这样就不仅有健康的牧者，也有健康的信徒，如此，便更加得平衡了。”M牧师介绍说：“现在我们的牧养是把小组聚会的观念用上了，但是小组聚会的问题是，虽然栽培了很多人，但是也制造了教会的很多混乱。”
他举例说，其中比较典型的就是从之前由多个牧者管理各自的堂点，到小组长得到权力管理自己的组员后出现的一个问题就是：权力分散之后，有些个别的小组长就有骄傲的资本，也会有小组的分裂情况出现，或者是堂点讲道人之间的分裂，最负面的结果是他曾经历过小组长带走了小组的人离开教会。
M牧师肯定说，小组聚会很适用于今天的环境，但也需要认识到，教会的小组化有时候会把教会引向功利性的一面，即会刺激牧者不断通过发展更多的小组以达到追求人数倍增的目的，这就会导致教会在牧养和栽培门徒的方面是以事工为导向的，即非常看重结果、数字和规模，但却不是以生命为导向的。“当我认识到了这个问题后，我们做出了对信众生命内面化加强的调整。”
四、后疫情时代 信众和牧者都需要心态的改变和更新
M牧师特别指出：“从2020到2022年，疫情发生后这二三年的时间里，我们不得不改变很多的模式。最开始的时候，我也不愿意接受网络聚会，总感觉少了那一种在实地会有的气氛和感情。刚开始对着屏幕讲道，我也是不适应的，我对着电脑讲道，感觉没有感情回应一样。我最开始有很多的失落，觉得网上讲好像缺少圣灵的感动，还是在台上讲的更好，但无法不去接受这个事实。”
“从2020到2022年，我们这近三年的时间的经历，我觉得就是神给我们一个提醒。我常常和弟兄姐妹说，我们要适应和接受现在这种线上线下、和小组聚会的模式。平安稳妥的时候，我们聚在一起当然更好，但是现在难的时候，我们不能够发怨言，不能够试探神。至少我们面对这个环境的时候，我们坦然一点。就算有5个人聚在一起，也不至于我们信心软弱。我一直鼓励弟兄姐妹，不要灰心。”
访谈｜华东一牧者谈对牧养模式的探索：从派单制到堂会制，到今天对“融合制”的尝试
As the church is the body of Christ, the purpose of the earthly church is to be the glorious body of Christ and win the lost souls for the Lord. The significance of the church’s existence will not change, but the pastoral and governance model of the church is not static and will change with the changes of the times and the environment.
The global pandemic in 2020 had a profound impact on the world and the church, prompting the church to innovate and adjust its pastoral mode.
A few days ago, I interviewed Pastor M who is from East China. He is a witness to the changes in pastoral mode in China’s grass-roots churches over the past 30 years. In the past decades, grass-roots Chinese churches have experienced various pastoral modes, from the parish system, dispatching system for rural churches to the church system emphasized by urban churches, and then to the post-pandemic era today, which combines online and in-person modes for group, family and church gatherings. At the same time, Pastor M combines the advantages of the past dispatching system and church system in the current ministry, avoiding their respective disadvantages.
It should be noted that at present, this emerging model due to environmental changes is not called and defined by special terms such as the parish system and the church system, but its connotation and formation are more presented as a style of the “integration system”.
First, the combination of the dispatching system and the church system can give new vitality.
Pastor M recalled that nearly 30 years ago the parish system was mainly for many rural churches with one pastor assigned to different parishes or churches to preach in rotation, which was very important at that time. However, it is reviewed as a kind of “cursory” ministry and difficult to play the role of in-depth ministry. Pastors and believers could not establish a deeper relationship between leaders and believers.
So, now how does Pastor M use the dispatching system? First of all, he hopes that the fellow pastors can be trained to preach everywhere, but at the same time, this pastor also has a fixed church or group church to manage and deeply take care of the believers. Therefore, the present dispatching system is that this pastor will go out once a week in addition to his own church or group church so that they will get a balanced growth in preaching and ministry.
Pastor M said, “If the dispatching system is not applied, the pastors in some churches will have a weaker level of leading the believers because of their education level and age. However, through the dispatching system, the pastors can cross and take turns preaching sermons, so that the believers in one church can hear the sermons of other excellent pastors at least twice a week, and there will be a balance in the provision of truth.”
At the same time, Pastor M stressed, “A pastor must take good care of his own work in the church. Dispatching orders is only a part of training pastors. In the previous dispatching system in which pastors did not have their own place of responsibility, they only preached in a fluid way, which made it impossible to cultivate them in depth. The pastor was just like a preaching machine, and the pastor had nothing to do with the believers in this church so the pastor could disappear straight after finishing each sermon. This was the detour we had before. Although the dispatching system is still used now, we ask pastors not only to preach but also to take good care of the believers in the church they are responsible for. This can also establish a real pastoral relationship.”
Second, the church system needs to avoid disadvantages: to have a deeper understanding of the essence of the church.
The church system is a popular model in urban churches after 2000 - the church is fixed in a church spot, and all pastoral activities are carried out in this space.
Pastor M believes that the first church system was mainly just one person preaching the holy word and doing the ministry. For example, some pastors needed to teach many sermons or do much counseling during the week. From a certain point of view, it was a drag and internal friction for this pastor; secondly, the believers in the church were mainly influenced by one pastor, and it was easy for believers to deviate from their cognition of truth and the whole gospel view. After a long time, the believers in this church might find that they only recognized this one pastor. However, in the current environment where the resources of online channels are sharply reduced, if a congregation are confined to the level of the pastor’s ministry, it will be difficult for them to integrate into the comprehensive gospel. After a long time, there will be disharmony in truth and relationships in the whole church.
Therefore, Pastor M thinks it is necessary to combine the dispatching system with the church system. Moreover, a more systematic way of preaching and ministering is needed in ministry. For example, Pastor M recommended ways to formulate the annual sermon outline, including truthful, doctrinal, and life-oriented sermon contents and the development direction of the church. The sermon preached each month can be adjusted and balanced by these. For instance, if the sermon is weekly, the first week will lead the Holy Communion, the second week will be about the cross, the third will focus on the Gospel of Mark, and the fourth week will be the practice of Christian faith life.
Pastor M believes that faith should not be bound by the church. Not meaning against the church, he believes that many believers have a faulty mindset - they only look for which place to get together and think that this is the only place as the church. But in fact, the Bible shows us that people who believe in Jesus Christ and are saved together are the church. The Temple in Jerusalem is sacred, but it is not only called a gathering place in Jerusalem, but also a church. In ecclesiology, it is necessary to shift the focus from place to people. For this reason, Pastor M pays special attention to sharing the correct ecclesiology with his members.
Third, how can the advantages and disadvantages of group ministry be balanced?
“The group gathering mode can transform the large-scale church gathering mode. If we strengthen the nurture of believers’ spiritual lives, we can make up for the shortcomings of church services. In this way, there are not only healthy pastors but also healthy believers, which makes it even more balanced.” He said, “At present, we use the idea of group gatherings in pastoral care, but the problem of group gathering is that although it cultivates many people, it also creates a lot of chaos in the church.”
For instance, he said that one of the typical examples was that from the previous time when several pastors managed their own churches, to the time when the group leader got the power to manage his own group members, there was a problem: after the power was dispersed, some individual group leaders had pride, and there was also the split of the group or the split between the pastors in the church. The worst outcome that he had experienced was the group leader taking away the group members and leaving the church.
Pastor M affirmed that group gatherings were very suitable for today’s environment, but it was also necessary to realize that sometimes the church group meetings would lead the church to the utilitarian side and would stimulate pastors to continuously develop more groups to achieve the goal of doubling the number of people. This would lead the church to be ministry-oriented in raising and cultivating disciples - it attaches great importance to results, numbers, and scale. Yet, it was not life-oriented. “When I realized this problem, we made an adjustment to strengthen the internalization of believers’ lives,” he added.
Fourth, believers and pastors need to change and update their mentality in the post-pandemic era.
Pastor M specifically pointed out, “From 2020 to 2022, in the two or three years after the first coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, we had to change a lot of patterns. In the beginning, I didn’t want to accept online services either, and I always felt that there was less atmosphere and feelings that I would have on site. When I first talked before a screen, I was not used to it. As I preached before the computer, I felt no emotional responses. At first, I felt a lot at loss. I felt that online preaching seemed to lack the touch by the Holy Spirit, and it was better to speak in person. Yet, I couldn’t help but accept this fact.”
“Throughout our experiences over the past three years, I think it is God who has given us a reminder. I often tell my brothers and sisters that we should adapt to and accept the current online and in-person hybrid meeting modes. It is certainly better for us to get together when we are safe, but when we are in trouble, we can’t complain to or test God. At least when we face this environment, we are calm. Even if five people get together, our faith will not go weak. I have always encouraged my brothers and sisters not to lose heart.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
Interview: Pastor Says Church Ministry Attempts to Explore 'Integrated System'
